New Zealand have extended their cushion at the top of the latest IRB World Rankings after scoring 17 unanswered points in the final quarter to beat Australia 23-22 in the last Tri-Nations match of 2010.

The All Blacks had long since wrapped up the title, but victory in Sydney ensured the first ever clean sweep since the tournament was expanded and the first by any country since 2003, not to mention a record tenth consecutive win over the Wallabies.

Richie McCaw, leading the All Blacks for a record 52nd time to surpass Sean Fitzpatrick's mark, kick-started the revival with a 67th minute try before Kieran Read crashed over, giving Piri Weepu the match-winning kick.

The victory, New Zealand's fifteenth consecutive Test win, increases the All Blacks' rating by just under five tenths to 94.77 and means they now sit 9.21 rating points above Australia in the latest IRB World Rankings.

Australia remain second despite their fourth defeat of the Tri-Nations, albeit now only 0.34 rating points above South Africa, the 2009 champions having picked up the wooden spoon after only one victory.

With five defeats from six matches, South Africa have seen their rating plummet by 4.24 points over the course of the Tri-Nations, in comparison to Australia's gain of 1.15 points and New Zealand's increase of 3.09.

This tournament has therefore had a significant impact on New Zealand's cushion at the top of the IRB World Rankings, which has increased more than four-fold from 2.22 points to its current 9.21.

The healthy cushion, however, is still a little shy of the biggest ever advantage the number one ranked side has enjoyed - 9.41 points by New Zealand over France back on 25 June, 2007. They would have surpassed this had they won in Sydney by more than 15 points.

Top 20 in the IRB World Rankings:
(As at September 13, 2010 - last week's position in brackets)
1(1) New Zealand 94.77
2(2) Australia 85.56
3(3) South Africa 85.22
4(4) France 82.75
5(5) Ireland 82.03
6(6) England 81.82
7(7) Scotland 79.81
8(8) Argentina 79.70
9(9) Wales 78.58
10(10) Fiji 74.39
11(11) Italy 72.97
12(12) Samoa 72.74
13(13) Japan 72.49
14(14) Canada 69.43
15(15) Usa 67.86
16(16) Tonga 67.06
17(17) Georgia 66.38
18(18) Russia 65.80
19(19) Romania 65.10
20(20) Namibia 62.69